The Buffalo Sabres have re-upped with RFA blueliner Mark Pysyk on a two-year, $2.25 million deal, per CBC.

Pysyk, 23, just wrapped his entry-level deal with Buffalo — he was the club’s first-round pick (23rd overall) in 2010 — but only appeared in seven games for the Sabres last year, spending most of the season in AHL Rochester before collapsing during a pickup basketball game in February.

(Pysyk, once medically cleared, did return to play three games for the Amerks at the end of the season.)

This new deal has a $1.125M cap hit, and Pysyk will carry that into next season looking to become a full-time NHLer. He appeared in 44 games during the ’13-14 campaign, but was dispatched to the AHL last year to work on his game; Pysyk’s chances of sticking with Buffalo in ’15-16 should be aided by the fact three regulars from last year — Nikita Zadorov, Andrej Meszaros, Andre Benoit — are no longer with the club.

That said, GM Tim Murray did bring in a trio of veteran presences in Matt Donovan, Carlo Colaiacovo and Bobby Sanguinetti this offseason.

Overall, the 5’11, 192-pound has appeared in four National Hockey League (NHL) seasons, including stints with Ottawa, Colorado and Buffalo. He has amassed 48 points (11 goals, 37 assists) and 60 penalty minutes in 179 career regular season games, as well as four assists and six penalty minutes in 12 career postseason games.

The Blues already have six d-men on one-way contracts for next season: Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Kevin Shattenkirk, Carl Gunnarsson, Robert Bortuzzo, and Chris Butler. There’s also young Petteri Lindbohm, still on his entry-level deal.

Patrick Sharp scored his 15th goal of the season on Friday, as he dangled journeyman blue liner Andre Benoit then snapped a wrist that just got through Anders Lindback and trickled over the goal line.

That goal gave the visiting Blackhawks, who played the night before against Vancouver, a 2-0 lead over the Sabres less than nine minutes into the first period. Plenty has been made about Sharp’s lack of scoring this season — he went 19 games without a goal from the end of January to the middle of March — but he does have three goals in his last seven games, including Friday’s meeting with the Sabres.

We couldn’t really put together a long list, given the fact most teams with a surplus of blue-liners (and there aren’t many of those) would like to keep it that way. But here’s a short list of potential trade targets:

Cody Franson (Toronto): A pending unrestricted free agent, there’s good reason to believe he’ll be traded at some point this season. The 27-year-old put up 33 points in 2013-14, and he shoots right, a trait that teams like Detroit and Dallas are looking for. Franson’s cap hit is $3.3 million.

Jeff Petry (Edmonton): Another right-shooting pending UFA with offensive ability who many expect to be traded prior to the March 2 deadline. The 26-year-old has a cap hit of $3.075 million.

Mike Green (Washington): The Caps aren’t going to give him away cheap, but GM Brian MacLellan has taken calls on the 29-year-old pending UFA. Does Green fit in their long-term plans? If not, would they keep him for a playoff run, even if he were unsigned past this season? Those are the two key questions. Green’s cap hit is $6.08 million. And yes, he shoots right.

Andrej Sekera (Carolina): The ‘Canes have righted the ship since their awful start, and GM Ron Francis recently said the team’s preference was to re-sign the 28-year-old pending UFA. Still, if they can’t get Sekera’s contract extended prior to the deadline, it’s hard to see him finishing the season on a team that remains liable to miss the playoffs. (Cap hit: $2.75 million)